1.3.1 Wholebeing mixes
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In 2016, we moved away from the “equal salary” policy as we felt it was not truly equal. It failed to take into account other parameters such as quantity of paid vacation taken, number of paid days spent in training or time spent working from abroad (which implies flexibility and support from the rest of the team, for eg adjusting meeting time to time-difference, taking over in-person meeetings, spending more time in online meetings…). Also, we faced the challenge of having an equal salary policy for all employees while some employees expressed the need for a higher salary.
To answer these challenges, we decided to take the discussion to a more global question: “what creates value for me in my work?” From this we derived a series of parameters and we then asked every employee to think about them with the guiding question: what do I need for my wellbeing?
And thus were born our parameters for our wholebeing mixes:
Number of hours of work per week
Number of weeks of paid vacation per year
Salary
End of year bonus
Social insurances
Number of weeks of training per year
Worcation(s): this means going to another country/place for several weeks or months and working from there while also taking time to enjoy the local beach, surf, food, culture, mountains…
Sababticals (paid or unpaid)
Need for a computer or laptop
Expenses reimbursement needs (including transport, general subscription for CFF)
Recognition needs/status
Responsibility level/needs
Through discussion and consent based decision making processes, we reached an overall wellbeing mix policy that took into account varying personal needs at all levels, as well as the circles and organisation's wellbeing. Our motto for this process was “From an equal salary policy to an equal wellbeing policy” and we succeeded with flying colors! The wellbeing mix allows for a stronger, more holistic understanding of “what creates value for me at work” beyond salary and promotes “equal wellbeing” and in consequence a stronger sense of equity.
The wholebeing mix approach is now used on an annual basis, with an adapted process for international contractors. It's a key element to support employees reflexion on their professional-personal-family life balance and what they need to have a high level of wellbeing.
The process is a bit different every year as we _sense and respond _what is needed, but general includes these steps:
Filling in my own personal wholebeing plan
Time to read everyone's wholebeing plan and give open feedback, written or oral, which everyone has access to
Time to reflect if I want to change my wellbeing plan based on feedback received
In person (if possible) session to share and give feedback to each person's plan, and adress tensions
Annual talent budget adjusted to reflect current state of discussion
Time to digest the financial info, the feedbacks received and make adjustments to my own plan
Session to find solutions to remining tension
Online approval of all the wholebeing mixes via loomio
All the wholebing mixes are available to staff here. (Only accessible to employee).
Empty models are available to the public here and here (for international contractors).
Here are a few concrete examples of how our team is using the flexibility provided by the wholebeing mixes :
Several employees do yoga a few times a week and their yoga classes are clearly included in their calendars so that no one plans a meeting with them during those classes.
Days when it’s raining really hard, some employees chose to work from home (to avoid getting wet on their bike).
During our workends and other retreats, kids are always welcome and there is generally a couple babies crawling around during our meetings.
The moms regularly work from home so that they can be with their kids at the same time. They also work part time to have more time for family, while having a higher salary because they need more stability.
Employees take power naps on our office couches.
One employee decided to work from California for 5 months in 2016, to be with his spouse.
One employee decided to work from Mexico for a couple weeks, to be with friends.
One employee brings her dog to the office because it’s unhappy alone at home and she prefers having it with her.
one employee went for a 3 months world trip with her children while having a lower % for these months
